Pauline Jones Luong

Affiliation(s)

CREES, Political Science, WCED

Fields of Study

Institutional origin, state formation, and the resource curse in Central Asia and Russia

About

Pauline Jones Luong’s scholarly work contributes broadly to the study of institutional origin, change, and impact in a wide variety of settings: newly emergent states with multiple competing subnational identities, states transitioning from planned to market economies, states rich in natural resources, and states with predominantly Muslim populations. The empirical basis for her work has been primarily the former Soviet Union (FSU) -- particularly the five Central Asian republics that gained independence in 1991 (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan). However, she has also engaged in broad cross-national comparisons across regions, including Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), utilizing a combination of controlled case comparisons and statistical analysis. Future research will explore the institutionalization of secularism and the politics of extremism, focusing on countries with predominantly Muslim populations.